New Poll: Uncle Ted in trouble

Just as the polar ice cap is thinning, so is support for Alaska’s Republican Senator-for-life Ted Stevens. A new Rasmussen Poll has Stevens at 46 percent, with Democratic challenger Mark Begich at 44 percent.

“Uncle Ted” has sat in the Senate longer than any Republican in history. (Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina had a longer tenure than Stevens, but the old segregationist served eight years as a Democrat before switching parties.)

Stevens, 85, is a champion pork barreler in a state that receives back approximately six dollars from the federal government for every buck of tax revenue it contributes. Stevens has also been a satrap of the oil industry, whose money has dominated Alaska politics.

But the senator is under investigation by the FBI and the public integrity section of the U.S. Department of Justice. Stevens is up for re-election this year.

The probes center on Stevens’ relationship with Veco, a big oil services company, and its politician-buying boss Bill Allen. Allen has already pleaded guilty to federal bribery and conspiracy charges, and is giving evidence to the feds.

It has been more than a year since FBI agents raided Stevens’ Girdwood, Alaska, home, apparently seeking evidence that Veco paid part of the tab for an extensive remodeling of the premises.

Nor is “Uncle Ted” the only Stevens under investigation.

Ben Stevens, the senator’s son and ex-president of the Alaska State Senate, has been identified as receiving more than $242,000 in “consulting” fees from Veco, with no apparent work product.

Begich is a two-term mayor of Anchorage, and the son of the late U.S. Rep. Nick Begich. The elder Begich and House Majority Leader Hale Boggs disappeared in 1972 on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau.

Alaska has been a Republican bastion. No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in the 49th state since 1974. The last Democrat to carry Alaska in a presidential race was 1964.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who is under investigation by two federal grand juries, has represented Alaska in the U.S. House of Representatives since winning a special election to succeed Begich.

An extrapolation of figures from the Rasmussen survey shows Sen. John McCain with a tiny lead over Sen. Barack Obama.